Mercury resonance

Minor planets in estimated resonance with Mercury.

Detail of a studio portrait photograph of Venetia Burney, aged 11, around the time she named Pluto (crop).
Aries discovery, Asteroids, Focus On, Inner main belt objects, Main belt objects

Focus On: (6235) Burney

Name origin: Venetia Phair (née Burney), who at age 11 was the first to suggest the name Pluto when said planet was discovered. She studied mathematics and became an accountant, and later a teacher.

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Mosaic of Orpheus taming wild animals, 194 CE; found near Edessa, Turkey.
Apollo group, Focus On, Near-Earth objects, Sagittarius discovery

Focus On: (3361) Orpheus

Gifted Thracian bard in Greek legend. The best-known story involves Orpheus venturing into the underworld to try to bring back his wife Eurydike after she died from a snake bite. He lost her again just as they were returning to the upper world, after failing to keep a prohibition on looking back at her on the journey.

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Daedalus, Icarus, Queen Pasiphaë, and two of her attendants in a Roman mosaic from Zeugma, Commagene.
Apollo group, Asteroids, Focus On, Near-Earth objects, Sagittarius discovery

Focus On: (1566) Icarus

Name origin: Cretan mortal, son of the great craftsman Daedalus, who made wings held together with beeswax to help the two of them escape the island. Daedalus warned Icarus not to fly too close to the sun, nor too close to the sea. Overcome by giddiness while flying, Icarus disobeyed his father and came too close to the sun, and the heat melted the beeswax. He fell into the sea and drowned.

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Oracle of Delphi: King Aigeus in front of the Pythia. Attic red-figure kylix from Vulci (Italy), 440-430 BCE, Kodros Painter; held at Altes Museum, Berlin.
Asteroids, Focus On, Gemini discovery, Main belt objects

Focus On: (432) Pythia

The Pythia was the high priestess and oracle of the temple of Apollo at Delphi. Established by the 8th century BCE (though some sources date the shrine’s beginnings around 600 years farther back), the Pythia became pre-eminent by the 7th century BCE. Widely respected, the priestess continued to be consulted until the late 4th century CE.

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Digitally enhanced bas-relief marble sculpture of Aeolus blowing wind.
Aeolia family, Asteroids, Focus On, Gemini discovery, Main belt objects

Focus On: (396) Aeolia

Aiolos was the divine keeper of the winds and king of the mythical, floating island of Aiolia (Aeolia). He kept the violent Storm-Winds locked safely away inside the cavernous interior of his isle, releasing them only at the command of greatest gods to wreak devastation upon the world.

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Statue of the personification of Wisdom (Koinē Greek: Σοφία, Sophía) at the Library of Celsus in Ephesus (second century CE); crop.
Asteroids, Focus On, Libra discovery, Main belt objects

Focus On: (275) Sapientia

Sapientia is Latin for “wisdom”. The corresponding Ancient Greek term (Sophia) variously translates to “clever, skillful, intelligent, wise”; it also implies “skill in handicraft and art” in Homeric usage, which has been applied to both Hephaistos and Athene.

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